Edmondson Among Notable Presenters at Motor Sport Business Forum
July 10, 2009
DAYTONA BEACH – Grand-Am Road Racing President Roger Edmondson will be among the notable presenters from the global motorsports industry at the inaugural Motor Sport Business Forum-North America (MSBF-NA), which, will be held at the new Hilton Orlando, December 8 – 9, 2009.
Edmondson joined fellow MSBF-NA panelist Roger VanDerSnick, International Speedway Corporation (ISC) Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, and Zak Brown, Just Marketing International (JMI) CEO and Founder, to discuss the forum in a press conference during last week’s NASCAR and Grand-Am event at Daytona International Speedway. Brown will serve as the Orlando event’s Forum Chairman and JMI will serve as the North American co-host with primary event organizers IM2 Events, of Switzerland.
“Daytona this weekend is the perfect venue to launch our awareness campaign for the Motor Sport Business Forum-North America,” Brown said during the press conference. “We will be back in central Florida just over five months from now for the first Motor Sport Business Forum-North America and we couldn’t think of a better location to establish the forums’ U.S. presence.”
Brown also announced in the press conference that Lesa France Kennedy, Vice Chair and Chief Executive Officer of International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and Vice Chair and Executive Vice President for NASCAR, will be the featured Keynote Speaker on the second and final day of MSBF-NA.
Edmondson, who will also discuss AMA Pro Racing, is scheduled to participate in the Forum’s opening panel address on the “State of North American Motorsports.” Among his co-panelists will be Steve Phelps, NASCAR Chief Marketing Officer. VanDerSnick will be part of a panel focusing on “Building the Show – Event Promoters.”
The MSBF-NA is the third and newest forum organized by IM2, which has established a series of similar events in Monaco and Abu Dhabi. Although Orlando will mark the North American debut, the European and Middle East events have already established the MSBF as the pinnacle business platform for global motor sport. The only multi-national series of motor sport business forums in the world, the 2009 schedule also includes Abu Dhabi, October 27 – 28, and Monaco, December 9 – 10.
Like its sister events, the Orlando edition will focus on the commercial side of the sport and will feature presentations from an A-list gathering of management representatives from leading teams, sponsors, championship promoters and industry executives. In addition to the strong presence from Edmondson and others based at the “World Center of Racing” Daytona campus that is home to NASCAR, ISC, Daytona International Speedway, Grand-Am Road Racing and AMA Pro Racing, the Forum will also feature top-level participation from IndyCar, NHRA, Formula 1, MotoGP and other global motorsports organizations. High-level representation from recognized and relevant sports, marketing and entertainment organizations from beyond motor sport will also be included in the packed two-day agenda.
Forum attendees will receive unique knowledge through two full days of insightful presentations and idea-filled panel discussions. In one of its unique features, attendees will additionally have the unprecedented opportunity to network with the Forum’s “Who’s Who” of motor sport guests and each other during scheduled informal sessions. A variety of exhibitions from leading motor sports companies is also on tap.
The MSBF-NA will be held in the run-up to highly popular Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show, the biggest exhibition in global motor sport, and a must-attend event on the annual American racing business calendar.
The full conference agenda for MSBF-NA will be released shortly with further high-profile speakers set to confirm their participation in the coming weeks.
